The invention relates to an apparatus for carrying out a cleaning operation applied to the internal neck skin of slaughtered poultry by removing the windpipe, gullet, glandular tissue or remainders thereof. Such an apparatus includes suspension devices for suspending the poultry by the legs, presser means, which during the cleaning operation press on at least a part of the poultry, and a rotatable bore organ to be inserted from the top into the poultry being suspended by the legs for carrying out the cleaning operation.
Such an apparatus is known from the European patent application EP-A 0 162 154.
In the known apparatus, presser members engage the back of the poultry suspended by the legs, such as to press it onto springy presser plates, simultaneously positioning the neck of the poultry vertically under the body of the poultry so that during the cleaning operation the bore organ can be inserted accurately through the positioned neck of the poultry.
One drawback of the known apparatus is that under circumstances the cleaning operation applied to the internal neck skin of the slaughtered poultry is not completely effective so that remains of the windpipe, gullet, or glandular tissue may be left behind. This appears to be the case even if the apparatus as known from EP-A 0 162 154 is embodied with a bore organ as known from EP-B 0 516 888.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to make the cleaning operation more effective, that is to say to improve the scraping action of the known bore organ, so that the poultry may be stripped more reliably of windpipe, gullet and other tissue that is to be removed. Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
To this end, the apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that during the cleaning operation the presser means push the neck skin of the poultry toward the bore organ.
This measure effectively assists the scraping action of the bore organ, so that its efficiency is improved.
It is preferred for the presser means during the cleaning operation to push the poultry""s neck skin on the breast side towards the bore organ. This assists in particular the effective removal of the windpipe, which due to the nature of the tissue of which the windpipe consists, is usually difficult to remove by means of the bore organ.
A simple manner in which the presser means may be embodied is characterized in that the presser means comprises a presser chock, which during the cleaning operation rests against the neck skin of the poultry at the breast side.
In another aspect of the invention, proper functioning of the apparatus may be ensured by embodying the presser chock such as to be adjustable in height.
This makes it possible at the beginning of the cleaning operation to simply move the presser chock upwards until it reaches a position wherein the pressure chock rests against the neck skin at the breast side of the poultry.
The measure with which the neck skin is pressed against the bore organ is as such quite critical, since on the one hand the scraping action of the bore organ needs to be supported, while on the other hand the scraping action must not result in the neck skin being torn.
An appropriate amount of pressure may be obtained if at the beginning of the cleaning operation the presser chock is moved upwards until the same reaches a position in which the pressure chock supports the poultry, that is to say the presser chock slightly lifts the poultry while the same is suspended by the legs in the hooks.
The invention is also embodied in a method of carrying out the cleaning operation applied to the internal neck skin of slaughtered poultry by removing the air pipe, gullet, glandular tissue or remains thereof, the poultry being suspended by the legs and a presser means being placed such as to act on a part of the poultry, while from the top a bore organ is inserted into the poultry suspended by the legs, for carrying out the cleaning operation.
According to the invention, this method is characterized in that during the cleaning operation the presser means is placed such that it acts on the outside of the neck skin at the breast side of the poultry.